Murder accused out on bail hacked to death by gang

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A 40-year-old man, who was the prime accused in the murder of a railway union leader and came out on bail, was hacked to death by a five-member gang in Villivakkam on Tuesday.

Bhaskaran (left); Puthiyavan

Chennai:

The deceased, Bhaskaran, was the prime accused in the murder of the general secretary of All India Other Backward Classes (AIOBC) Union of Southern Railway, JK Puthiyavan, in February last year. Bhaskaran used to work as a car driver for Puthiyavan, who was employed in the mechanical department in carriage works of Integral Coach Factory (ICF), said the police.

Bhaskaran was recently released on bail in the case. When he was walking home from work around 12.30 am on Tuesday, a five-member gang surrounded him near his house at Balaramapuram and attacked him with pepper spray. Then, they hacked him and escaped from the spot.

The police said that Bhaskaran collapsed and died on the spot. The Villivakkam police reached the spot and sent his body to the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examination. A hunt has been launched for the unidentified gang.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Bhaskaran had given Rs 5 lakh to Puthiyavan to get a job for his brother in the Railways. As he failed to get the job and also refused to return the money, Bhaskaran allegedly killed him, said the police.

After Bhaskaran was released on bail, he also threatened to murder Puthiyavan’s wife and brother Subash if they did not return Rs 5 lakh which he had given to Puthiyavan. Scared by this, Subash could have killed him, said the police.

They added that Subash has been absconding and they have launched a search for him. The police are also going through the CCTV footage recovered from the locality.